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F-86 Sabre 1/48 Academy


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Hi all,

Now that My Heinkel is finished I've decided to make a start on something else from the stash.

It's a 1/48 F-86F Sabre by Academy. in a natural metal finish (Uh oh!). I've decided to use this as a guinea pig to practice metal finishes using Alclad prior to building my EE Lightning. So any hints, tips, or suggestions about the NMF or Alclad in general will be gladly welcomed.

I bought this at a reduced price along with about a third of my stash at a local 'clearance shop' I think they had bought a job lot of kits from MZ when it closed down. I happenend to be in with SWMBO who was looking for a frying pan and spotted an Airfix Merlin HC3 for half price, so not being one to miss a bargain I took it off their hands, along with an Airfix Lynx, also half price, both in 1/48. At this point they only had about a dozen Airfix kits. On the off chance I went back a couple of weeks later to see if they had any more new stock in, and lo and behold there was more plastic than you could shake a stick at, and strangely Airfix was now only 20% off and not half price anymore! I became a regular visitor until it closed down a couple of months later, despite my valliant attempts to maintain their income!

Anyway, here it is...

Sorry no sprue shots as they al look the same as other sprues, grey and with bits of aeroplane on them!

F-86.png

The first job was to fill the strange recesses inside the intake trunking below the cockpit and above the nose gear bay (presumably they are there as a result of limitations in the injection moulding process) along with removal of the locating pins inside the trunking! and the usual ejector pin marks to fill.. The bottom pic shows a before and after of the locating pins that needed to be removed from the exhaust tube, along with a strange raised ring. Next up will be copius amounts of filler and lots of sanding...

Intake%201.png

Intake%202.png

Thanks for looking

Al

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As the F-86 is one of my favourite jets I'm just going to have to watch this. I can't remember how many Sabres I've built over the years but I still have a couple of Academy kits and one in 1/32 and several decal sheets. Will you finish it as ' The Huff ' or do you have something else in mind?

Good luck

John

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You have my undivided attention!

I have this (same kit, same label!) that I bought in Rapid, Liverpool. I'm doing an FAA whif for the Group Build but have yet to start. Unlike yours, my intake will be blanked off so I can stuff it with ballast.

Good luck.

Trevor

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John - thanks, I'm planning to finish it as 'The Huff' unless the decals turn out to be a nightmare! It will definitely be a NMF though no matter what markings I put on it. Strangely I too like the Sabre but have never built one before, I only bought this one because it was half price and would be a good practice for Alclad. The NMF has always put me off, the same reason I've never built a Lightning. I know The RAF painted them in 'other colours' but to me the only finish for a Lightning is shiny metal.

Trevor - the ballast issue is something I've been thinking about. I want to keep the intake open so am going to try and squeeze in ballast wherever I can. I've also decided not to use the engine internals apart from the front and rear fans as quite a bit of them are behind the main wheels in an effort to reduce weight behind the C of G.

Al

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Hi

I was wondering about the internals too. I will probably need to install the tail pipe unless I blank that off as well. I've not studied the instructions properly yet so don't know how much weight I can save.

Watching with interest.

Trevor

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G'day Al,

Great start.

I also have this kit in the stash so i am watching with interest as I have not seen a WIP for this kit before.. It seems that quite a few manufacturers of F-86 kits have the external tank location incorrect. I remember reading that this kit has the position in the wrong spot too. This may be something you wish to correct?

cheers,

Pappy

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Hi Al, leaving the engine out will certainly help the balance, IIRC I filled the space above the intake trunking with small round fishing weights in plasticine. If you have a friendly local dentist you could ask him for some of the thin lead foil they use as backing when Xraying, they only throw them away, or at least they used to. These are ideal for small spaces as they fold up into small but weighty bundles.

All the best

John

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Pappy & Tony, thanks for the heads up about the wing tanks, I've just made a note on the instructions to re-locate them. By my reconing they will need moving inboard by about 9mm.

John, I have some lead shot stashed away somewhere that I am going to try and squeeze in where I can, along with some offcuts of roofing lead. When we moved into the house it was a new build and we were the only occupied house in the road for about a month. Every now and again a strange character could be seen wandering around the recently roofed houses with an ice cream tub under his arm which appeared to get heavier as the evenig wore on! :winkgrin::innocent:

I also recieved a delivery from The Big 'H' yesterday, and in amongst it was this little improvement...

20150906_4.jpg

I've mad a bit of progress with the intakes and exhaust tube, all the filling and sanding and filling and sanding and filling and sanding etc has now been finished and they are ready for paint. I'm thinking 'burnt iron and/or jet exhaust' for the exhaust tube, or should it really be sooty black with it being an earlier engine?

20150906_3.jpg

The strange green fuzzy bit on ther right of the photo is the aftermath of a small incident, I managed to knock over my jar of Mr Surfacer! I thought the best way to clean it up would be to scrape it up with a couple off pieces of stiff card, which cleaned most of it up, then finish off with Kitchen roll (heavilly) dampened with Acetone, which did the trick, but also did a good job of removing the printing from my cutting mat :doh:

next up will be to make a start on the 'pit.

See you soon

Al

Edited by Engineer66
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Nice work on the intake trunking, the recesses seem to have disappeared completely. If you've seen any Korean War footage of F-86s starting up there were always flames coming out of the jet pipes, so I would go for sooty black.

The seat looks good. KMC ( now sadly gone ) used to do them in sets of three many years ago, I think I still have one somewhere.

Keep up the good work

John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All,

now that I've got the decorating finished I have managed to get a bit of work done on the F-86 whilst waiting for paint to dry on the P-47.

The pit has been painted, along with the resin seat.

The parts are just held together with Blue Tack at the moment whilst I decide what to doa bout the intake, Im not too happy with the finish on the trunking (looks as rough as a badgers back end!) so am seriously thinking of using the intake blanks and filling the intake with lead.

20150915_25.jpg

20150915_23.jpg

20150915_27.jpg

Al

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looking good so far.

On my example the nose panel (blast plate?) for the guns stands noticeably proud of the rest of the fuselage. I can't see this feature in photos and just looks wrong. For my fictional GA.7 my aim is to sand it back smooth as it would be unarmed.

Trevor

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Very good idea - this is what I did otherwise you'll have a tailsitter!

I've left out all the engine internals and used a piece of plasticard to anchor the front of the exhaust tube. I didn't bother using the cone shaped part or the turbine face as once they're painted Matt black you can't see a thing in there! That should help with the weight. I have managed to fit the receommended 15g of weight above the nose trunking so hopefully that will have the desired result.

Looking good so far.

On my example the nose panel (blast plate?) for the guns stands noticeably proud of the rest of the fuselage. I can't see this feature in photos and just looks wrong. For my fictional GA.7 my aim is to sand it back smooth as it would be unarmed.

Trevor

Thanks for the heads up Trevor, I'll pay some attention to that panel when I get to it. I was up at the Sunderland museum a few months ago and took some pics of their F-86 so hopefully I will have one that shows the fit of the panel.

I've just assembled the fuselage tonight, and it's sat on the desk covered in tape to hold it whilst the glue sets. Once I've neaten end up the joints I get some pictures up of progress so far.

Al

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Just a thought. You've covered the fact that the position of the wing tanks needs moving. Is the wing fence position ok though? I've no reason to believe not (I'm not a Sabre expert) but the fact that Airfix got both wrong has sown the seed of doubt in my mind.........

Trevor

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Good point Trevor,

I've already drilled the holes for the tanks in the correct place, I'd better check the wing fences before I go any further.

Good spot Tony, no point in checking the nose of a D when you're building an F !

Al

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Just a thought. You've covered the fact that the position of the wing tanks needs moving. Is the wing fence position ok though? I've no reason to believe not (I'm not a Sabre expert) but the fact that Airfix got both wrong has sown the seed of doubt in my mind.........

Trevor

They are in fact too far inboard and should be moved 5mm outwards.

Tony(using the drawings in Larry Milberry's book)

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Hi All, not much to report on this one,

The fuselage is together and I'm now working on the filling, sanding and re-scribing the inevitable lost panel lines. The lower wings are on now as well, but I haven't taken pics of that.

20151002_27.jpg

Cheers

Al

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Hi Al!

Looking good so far.

Over on my WHIF thread I've also just mated the wings to the fuselage. I found that balancing it on my fingertips it seems to be neither nose or tail heavy.

Trevor

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